US, Israel remain at odds over Iran

AFP, JERUSALEM

Thu, Oct 03, 2013 - Page 7

As Washington and Tehran seek detente, Israel and the US remain divided over the Iranian nuclear issue, commentators say, despite efforts to play down their differences.

Washington has long insisted on sanctions and diplomatic efforts to pressure Tehran over its atomic program, which the West and Israel allege is aimed at producing a nuclear bomb and which Iran denies.

For its part, Israel has repeatedly advocated military force and has threatened unilateral strikes against the Islamic republic.

On Monday, US President Barack Obama met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, and said military force was still an option.

Netanyahu suggested that, for now, he accepted US diplomatic efforts with Iran.

However, on Tuesday he told the UN General Assembly that Israel was ready to act “alone” to stop Iran getting a nuclear bomb.

“Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone,” Netanyahu said. “As dangerous as a nuclear-armed North Korea is, it pales in comparison to the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran.”

The Obama-Netanyahu meeting came hot on the heels of a historic telephone conversation between the US president and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, which spurred hopes for a breakthrough in the 30-year estrangement between Washington and Tehran.

However, the meeting’s seemingly reassuring dialogue belied acute differences between the US and Israel over how to approach an Iran that has been reaching out to the Western world, observers said.

“While President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu smile for the cameras, the actual situation is entirely different,” wrote Eli Bardenstein of the rightwing Maariv daily.

“There are significant gaps between the United States and Israel concerning the nature of how to deal with the Iranian nuclear issue,” he said. “One of the big gaps that was revealed between the leaders during their meeting at the White House ... revolved around Netanyahu’s demand that Iran suspend its nuclear program during the negotiations. Netanyahu even told Obama that if Iran would not do this, then the sanctions must be intensified.”

Iran has refused to accede to international demands to stop enriching uranium, a process that can, in its more advanced form, yield the fissile core of a bomb.

In reaction, the international community has slapped numerous punitive sanctions on Tehran.

Obama has argued that words are not enough and that Iran must take verifiable steps to prove it is meeting “international obligations fully and that they are not in a position to have a nuclear weapon.”

However, he has also said that, after signing up to such a regime, Iran should retain the right to a “peaceful” nuclear energy program.

Top-selling Yediot Aharonot agreed that Obama and Netanyahu had simply presented a facade after their talks.

“Netanyahu seemed to be singing a different tune,” it said, after the premier warned before he left home that he would speak out against the “sweet talk” and “charm offensive” coming from Tehran.

“Instead of being a party-pooper, he joined the party. He spoke in soft and conciliatory tones about his willingness to stand by and not to get in the way of the world as it tried to reach a diplomatic solution with Iran,” the paper wrote.

“That said, Netanyahu yesterday looked like he was just waiting for the Iranians to make their first mistake so he could cry out to the world: ‘I told you so,’” it added.

However, left-leaning daily Haaretz put the US-Israeli divergence in the strongest terms.

“An abyss yawns between Netanyahu’s view of the Iranian issue and Obama’s,” it said. “For the Israeli premier, Iran is Amalek, the Biblical nation described as the Jews’ bitterest enemy. He has little faith therefore in dialogue with Iran, preferring sanctions and military force.”